


Let Truth Shine

by Alexeigynaix (EllieMurasaki), AlexSeanchai (EllieMurasaki)



Category: Hellenistic Religion & Lore, Metamorphoses - Ovid
Genre: F/M, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-19 21:58:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10648863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieMurasaki/pseuds/Alexeigynaix, https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieMurasaki/pseuds/AlexSeanchai
Summary: What is truth? What can be true?





	Let Truth Shine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thedevilchicken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedevilchicken/gifts).



> thedevilchicken, you have introduced me to the Damien Hurst photos of Rihanna as Medusa and _for that I shall forever love you_. (I kid, but they’re gorgeous; thank you for pointing me that way!)

Medusa loved Poseidon in  
the Temple of Athena.  
The Goddess raged  
at this pollution  
of Her sacred space.

Poseidon raped Medusa in  
the Temple of Athena.  
The sacred space  
polluted still,  
and angered still was She,  
but the violation that ignited  
the rage of the Goddess  
was stepping past the bounds  
of Medusa’s body  
without consent.

Which is true?

Athena in Her fury  
gave Medusa such a vividly  
frightening countenance  
that to meet the woman’s eyes  
would turn a man to stone.

That is true.

Perseus slew Medusa.  
He had the aid of Hades  
and Hermes and Hephaistos,  
and he could not have survived her  
without Athena’s gift.  
Medusa’s head became his weapon  
till he gave it to Athena  
for the center of Her shield.

How true is that?

Artistic representations  
of Medusa’s face,  
a woman all of beauty  
with venom-snakes for hair,  
were used throughout Hellas  
for centuries  
to turn evil from the threshold.

That is true.

Such a Gorgoneion  
marked a space of women’s safety,  
a sheltering roof  
within which men could not  
or did not dare  
to harm a woman,  
for she was guarded from them  
by the weapon of Medusa’s gaze  
and the shield of Athena’s might.

Is that true?

Medusa bore Poseidon sons  
at the moment of her death:  
Khrusaor of the golden sword  
and little claim to fame,  
and Pegasus, the flying horse,  
with whose help Bellerophon  
slew the Khimaira.  
Where the hoof of Pegasus  
left prints upon the earth,  
a spring burst forth—  
sweet water of the Mousai,  
not like Poseidon’s spring  
at His contest with Athena  
before Her city got its name.

This must be true.

Medusa was a priestess  
in the Temple of Athena.  
She violated her sacred trust  
when she lay with Poseidon there.

Medusa was a priestess  
in the Temple of Athena.  
The fault was all Poseidon’s,  
and He would rage as long  
if someone brought such strong  
miasma into His temple.

Medusa was no priestess,  
just a spinner who might sew,  
and as such she was Athena’s own.  
She loved Him.

Medusa was no priestess,  
just making offering to Athena.  
He raped her.

Which is true?

Medusa shelters women  
from the likes of what befell her.  
No ill ever befell her  
that was not due consequence  
of her own choice to love  
where she should not.

Can this be true?

All of these are true.


End file.
